熱鍋上的螞蟻
简 热锅上的蚂蚁 · 繁 熱鍋上的螞蟻Meanings
- (like) a cat on a hot tin roof
- anxious
- agitated
Characters in this entry
- 熱
- rè · hot; heat; fever; restless; zeal
- 鍋
- Look up this written character
- 上
- shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up
- 的
- de · possessive, adjectival suffix
- 螞
- Look up this written character
- 蟻
- Look up this written character
- 热
- rè · hot; heat; fever; restless; zeal
- 锅
- guō · cooking-pot, saucepan
- 蚂
- mǎ · ant; leech
- 蚁
- yǐ · ants
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
4–1–5–5–3–3 · re4 guo1 shang5 de5 ma3 yi3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
Read this spelling in Classical texts
Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.
熱鍋上的螞蟻 · find source passages ↗ · 热锅上的蚂蚁 · find source passages ↗
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
jit6 wo1 soeng6 dik1 maa5 ngai5
Cantonese word readings for 熱鍋上的螞蟻. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
noun
- (figurative, idiomatic) a nervous, jumpy state; like a cat on a hot tin roof; like a hen on a hot griddle
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack